The Strongest Word

The Strongest Word
Words of Faith 2-2-2024
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2024
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Mark 10
[10] When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. [11] He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. [12] And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."

This is the strongest statement Jesus ever made on divorce. While this word is strong, we don't want to miss here just how much God values His gift called marriage, which he created and gave to humans. But this is a strong teaching over which many stumble.
To understand, we must see the context. As we learned yesterday (10:1-9), the Pharisees and religious leaders had taken marriage so lightly that they turned it into a license for abuse. It was common to feel "religiously correct" in writing a decree of divorce for the mother of one's children and then take another younger wife that was "more pleasing." Marriage had been trivialized. Women were being used and abused. Children were being traumatized. The beautiful gift of marriage was being trampled.
How does God view this? It is sin, plain and simple. In fact, all divorce is sin because it always represents human failure. It is not an unforgivable sin, but it still is a sin. Divorce may even be a final necessity because of adultery or abuse. Still, it remains a failure that must be confessed before God.
Even Jesus recognized that some divorce was necessary. In Matthew 19:9, we find the words of Jesus: "I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman, commits adultery." Marital unfaithfulness does not sanction or "justify" divorce as much as it reflects the deep brokenness that sin causes in people and relationships.
When we read this strong statement in Mark 10:11-12, we don't want to miss the connected nature of these two verbal constructions. "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery." Here, divorce and remarriage are literally in the same sentence. When divorce is for the purpose of remarriage, then it is clearly an act of adultery, whether the one initiating divorce is a man or a woman. One counselor friend put it this way, "If you are going through the motions of marriage counseling while you have the 'next person' in the wings waiting, you are simply plotting for your adultery."
You may be thinking, "I thought that a woman could not divorce her husband in the time of Jesus?" Even in the time of Jesus, there were extreme circumstances in which a woman could divorce her husband, but a court of men would have to be convinced. For example, according to the Talmud, a woman could not initiate a divorce except if she discovered that he engaged in a "disgusting trade." While that may seem like a loophole you could drive a truck through, it only applied to something like working in tannery, which rendered a person ritually unclean.
In the larger counsel of Scripture, it is clear where God stands on divorce. God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16). But we need to clearly understand that God does not hate divorcees (Romans 8:38‑39, Jer. 31:3). God hates divorce because it painfully breaks the covenant gift He is invested in, but also because it hurts the people He loves so much.
So, is divorce an "unforgivable" sin? Some religious people seem to think so, but the Bible teaches that the only unforgivable sin is to reject the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ (Mark 3:29; Matthew 12:31).
Can a divorced person remarry? Some questions are essential. Was the broken marriage and divorce before a person was saved? Then, it is part of their old sinful life that is under the blood of Jesus (2 Cor. 5:17). Was the divorce hard-hearted toward God or part of a plot to commit adultery? Then the sin must be confessed, and repentance walked out.
The Apostle Paul taught that a believer is not to seek a divorce, but what if the divorce is against a believer's will? The Apostle taught that if a believer is married to an unbeliever and the unbeliever abandons or divorces the believer, they are free of that bond (1 Cor. 7:15).
Paul also taught that the "never-married" (virgins), the "unmarried" (divorced), and the widows of the church may marry if this is the best way to avoid sin (1 Cor. 7:8-9;25-26). These situations clearly do not involve divorce and remarriage "in the same sentence" and do not represent divorce for the purpose of a planned remarriage or adultery.
For Jesus, the bottom line was the condition of the heart. What is the condition of your heart? Have you hardened your heart to God and His will in your life? Have you hardened your heart toward any person in your family or church? Have you hardened your heart to the possibility that God might work in another person's life?

Father God, I want for my life to be molded after You. I want my heart to be softened by You and tender to Your leading. By Your Spirit, accomplish Your will and way in my life. Transform me daily into the New Creation. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2024
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2024 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.